Antisemitism – most enduring and irrepressible social pathology of all timeby Steven J. Manning
Antisemitism is endemic in many populations. In fact it is congenital. Millions, perhaps billions of people are antisemites from birth, with no basis for being so other than, they are offspring of antisemites.
The prejudice and discrimination against Jews is both as individuals and as a group. And people. And a religion.
Both “Jews are bad” and the “worldwide Jewish conspiracy” have been and remain guiding lights of antisemites worldwide.
In many societies, to this day, Jews are blamed for many of their ills. And remarkably for the inability of those societies to advance. That is even true among wide segments of US society. It is a glaring paradox given the immense contributions by Jews to society, science and business.
The absurd belief of “worldwide Jewish conspiracy” endures to this day, in wide segments of many societies.
Just ask any cab driver in Budapest, why cab fares are so high. It is the cost of the gasoline. And that is because of the Jews. I know… I had an office in Budapest. Hungarians are among the most virulent antisemites about. Not that many years ago, during one of my fifty trips to Budapest, I was stuck there for Yom Kippur. Most unmemorable: I was unable to get into the iconic Dohány Street Synagogue – The Great Synagogue in Budapest. The security line was so long, by the time I was “wanded”, much of the service was done.
More memorable was on the anniversary of Kristallnacht a few years ago, when the skinheads blanketed the city with leaflets wishing the Jews a happy anniversary and, “Don’t worry, Jews. This time you will die here.”
Although Jesus and his disciples preached Judaism, ultimately Christianity spawned anti-Judaism dogma, the birth of antisemitism. In the year 70 c.e.,3 the Romans destroyed the Jewish state, giving birth to the worldwide Jewish diaspora.
That might have constituted the first genocide of Jews if not a holocaust.
It is widely acknowledged that evolved into methodical policy of political, economic, and social discrimination. Ultimately, so called “blood libels”, inquisitions, exclusion, degradation, marginalization, persecution, ghettos, pogroms, genocides, and repeated attempted annihilation.
Nearly a success in the hands of Hitler and his Germany.
Antisemitism did not begin with the Nazis. Certainly did it end with their defeat in world war II. Over the ages, Jews have always been defined as “those people.” To be sure, Jews would prefer to not be the so-called, much less treated as the “chosen people.”
Racism and antisemitism were also facilitated by the development intellectually bankrupt theories of racial superiority and inferiority.
Perhaps an explanation of a succession of pogroms against the Jews, dating back to the 18th century.
One cannot discount what the hated Jews were relegated to. Jews in the “modern” centuries, think 14th to 17th, were relegated to certain jobs that Christians could not – by religious dogma – do. It was OK to have Jewish teachers. OK to have Jews handle money — become lenders of Christians’ money, while good Christians were prohibited.
Hitler capitalized on the “Jews so bad as to be sub-humans” hatred paradigm. He succeeded in convincing tens of millions of Germans that Jews were an impediment to German world domination. Thus, the need to exterminate them. To be entirely accurate, Communists and select others received honorable mentions in Hitler’s astoundingly successful propaganda movie.
At this writing, twenty-seven percent of Germans believe that Hitler was right – all the way around. That despite draconian laws that prohibit such expression, and essentially seek to control thought related to the Holocaust.
How is that going, you all?
But for the immediate post-war generations — perhaps just generation, it was the youth of Germany who kept the shame of their parents and grandparents incomprehensible inhumanity “alive”.
Try as enlightened Christians and even more relevant, enlightened leaders of Christianity, think popes, have tried to rehabilitate Jews and give them parity with Christians, they have failed spectacularly.
Regrettably most of the blind haters default to hate.
Studying, understanding, practicing tolerance or at least, peaceful coexistence, requires generations of enlightened parenting. Tragically, I hold out little or no hope for that.
Astonishingly, this is not taught in many of our fine schools.
Antisemitism is real and prevalent. A short while ago, I attended a telephone conference with a board of directors of a tech company. They consult with me on some matters. The uber-brilliant, new age CEO urged the team to “Jew down” the prices being paid to a vendor.
Projecting ahead, after what I said and how I said it to that antisemite, I expect to be suing for my fees. Thank God for Alex Bell. Otherwise, I might have been lead out of that meeting in handcuffs.
And then, a neighbor asked us for advice with a matter they have with their landlord. The lady of that house, added to her narrative: “you know, the guy is a Jew.”
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